Welcome to our Textile blog! We showcase work from our Textile Department's faculty, monitors and students. Our department is a growing community of artists who are interested in traditional and contemporary craft media. Interested in taking a class or checking out the studio? Visit www.lillstreet.com. Click on the pages below for more info on the department and all that we have to offer.
While getting ready for this winter's Garment Construction class, I've been thinking about my design process and how I go about inspiration gathering. You might think of the sketchbook as a tool for painters or people who can draw, but its a fantastic way to fuel creativity and organize your ideas.
The first step is to collect huge amounts of photographs. If you see something that strikes you, cut it out (or print it out- I gather lots of pictures while aimlessly surfing the internet, but I tend to forget about them if I don't have a hard copy).
The next step is to make some collages (in the fashion business, these are referred to as mood boards, because that sounds fancier). This part of the process helps you discover unexpected things about all those photos you collected. Which ones seem to go together? Is there a set of colors that looks really good next to this other picture? Maybe the flowing line of a drawing and the flowing line of a photograph suggest the same things to you.
I hope everyone's enjoying the holidays, and I look forward to seeing you in Garment Construction & First-Time Sewing.
Mitzi opted for an upholstery weight flap with a satin exterior and matching fabric handle.
Inside, she has a large pocket on the front and a smaller pocket on the bag. So handy!
Jill got creative with her exterior pockets: each one sized for specific objects and closed with velcro. Her bag is made of corduroy and cotton with a web strap. Beautiful and functional!
(You know you want to make one...)
What a great fall we’ve had in the knitting and needle felting classes! Our first session of knitting was great fun we knit socks, sweaters and scarves – as well we all knitted a mini sweaters to get some practice with various stitches. In our second session more socks, and scarves and other goodies. Two students who are soon to be first time mums, made baby leg warmers, socks and hats!
In our needle-felting workshop everyone was excited about the projects! It was a great day and we all felt the time fly by!
We're finishing up messenger bags next week. Its always exciting to see how quickly everyone learns- some of my students have even been making their own copies of the apron pattern so they can make some extra for gifts.
If you've been thinking of picking up some sewing machine skills, or have a hand-me-down machine gathering dust in your closet, First-time sewing is a great place to start.
On Friday December 17, we had the Artist on Residence Open studio at Lillstreet Art Center. The jewelry Artist in Residence Sontra Stala was in the first floor as well a the ceramics artist in residence Momoko Usami, and me the textile artist in residency in third floor. We show our work in our studios or semi-private studios. I did a performance from 7:30 to 8:30 pm Here are some pictures of the performance.
I want to take this opportunity to thank all our community for their support, company, lessons and friendship during this year. I really appreciate see so many people from our community sharing this important moment with me.
